SOLUTION TO WATER CRISIS IS AVAILABLE

We published this article just 2 months ago, predicting the water crisis and offering solutions. Now it is time that Las Vegas serious consider leadership on the water crisis. see the article at: http://www.bootheglobalperspectives.com/article.asp?id=414

Me and my associates have a solutions. In a meeting with state leaders over 18 months ago, I suggested that water would be the most important essential element of our future. More valuable than oil, more powerful than electricity, more critical than housing, cars, schools and yes, even more important than politics. Water, or the lack thereof, determines our survival as individuals and our survival as communities. I recently moved one of my companies to New Mexico and I was at a meeting with a group of corporate presidents, and asked: "Why don't you follow me and bring your company to Las Vegas, New Mexico?" One of them replied. "Not enough water. We already checked. That town can't support our company."

There you have it in a nutshell. The flow of water is down to 18% of normal. The city has declaired an emergency. Water rates are going up 500%. We predicted it all in the article published (see the link above). We circulated the article to 142 political and business leaders in Las Vegas. The response then was a yawn.

I NOW RESPECTFULLY CHALLENGE THE PEOPLE OF LAS VEGAS, MANY OF WHOM HAVE CONTACTED ME PERSONALLY, TO ENCOURAGE YOUR LEADERS TO DISPLAY LEADERSHIP, AND A VISION OF SOLUTIONS ON WATER ISSUES. PLUS I OFFER MY ENERGY AND EXPERTISE TO HELP IN THESE SOLUTIOS.

Now is not a time for politicing, or for staking our power positions. Now is a time to put in place the decisions that will create water for our community, for our children and grandchildren, for the next 100 years. There are some 600 towns in the USA that are facing stressful water needs issues. The list will grow. The towns that display leadership, and follow our advice, using the methods and technology available today will survive. Others will simply dry up and blow away.

We all know that Las Vegas was New Mexico's largest and most powerful city, until Albuqueque's leadership encouraged the railroads to converge there. We are are now in an age where water supplies and issues are more important than railroads and highways. The highways and transportation will go to the cities that have water resources. Now is the time, we have answers, the question is, IS LAS VEGAS READY TO SET THE FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE, OR IS THE CITY GOING TO SLOWLY DRY UP?

I believe, based upon the people that I have met, that there is enough positive energy in this city, to again pull together, to put away all of the past "baggage" of disagreement and petty rivalry, and lay a foundation. I certainly am ready to do my part. Will you join me? If so email me your name and phone number and how you are willing to help. Even if you can write a letter or make a phone call, we can make a difference. Now is the time. Let me hear from you at: ben@benboothe.com When we get our group together, we can forge a leadership alliance to encourage positive movement on water and energy issues.

Saneh and I have been pleased with the response to our comprehensive water solution concept that we have presented to 2 Kiwanis Clubs, the City Manager, Economic Development People, Chamber and Main Street people. More and more people are joining the opinion that something has to be done, and that ours is the best answer. The Mayor has indicated that he has long had an interest in desalination and our concept makes this a feasible solution. We have contacted financing sources and have found 3 ways to finance a desalination plant powered by wind and solar, that will produce 2,000,000 gallons of water per day. This would be fresh water from brakish water. We have the engineers, the construction team, all with experience, who are some of the best in the nation, ready to move forward with the approval of the Mayor and City.

We note the GateWay Project, and respect Alan Franken's request that the Mayor not spend money on a public relations and PR project for the city, when the water crisis is so pressing. We like Alan Franken and agree with him that this is a crisis. But, if we do the project within a budget that our firm has forseen, there will be ample funds for the City and Highlands to do both. Las Vegas has long let it's image languish behind Santa Fe, Taos, and other cities of New Mexico. We need to present ourselves as a progressive "Energy City" with the "Energy to move forward" and the respect for "Renewable Energy from the Sun and Wind that our forefathers had".

We can decorate our city,with "energy" savers and make the Gateway Project even better. I have contacted our manufacturing company in Holland, and we can provide solar powered street lights and public lighting that will create NO ELECTRIC EXPENSE for the city, and give the entire state notice that Las Vegas is progressive and on the move. That Las Vegas is a part of the Land of Enchantment, respecting the environment, and open and friendly to progressive green projects.

We have an opportunity to "rebuild" an image of Las Vegas as a thinking community, thinking in depth about water issues, energy issues, and yes even food issues. All three are connected. When oil goes up, food prices go up. When water is scarce, food is expensive to produce. Las Vegas can be the center of research and development and Saneh with her "Cornucopia Enterprise-com" and our "Environment-Solutions.com" have cost effective, long term solutions that can help Las Vegas renew itself, maintain it's cultural traditions and have the resources to be a healthy economic city where our kids and grandkids can find jobs and opportunity enough to stay here. BUT WE MUST HAVE WATER FIRST, AND FOREMOST. No one will invest, move, or stay here without water.

We have moved our company here, after having owned a home here for 23 years. We love the people and the area and want to preserve the best of what we have. But we don't want to have Las Vegas, be called or thought of as a "third class city on the decline". We only decline if we decide to. Now is the time to polish our image, prepare our infrastructure, and move forward. With Highlands University, Luna, and the brilliant hard working people who live here, there are resources to make this happen. It is time to put aside differences, and pull together.

I wholeheartedly agree, that water is rapidly becoming our most valuable resource, just as it already has in other parts of the world. Not only do we (the city, the acequias) need to stop fighting old battles and work together, but we also need to change our attitude toward how we use water. We also need to do everything to prevent potential contamination as documented in docu films like "Gasland" and "Split Estate". If we seek to "regulate" gas and oil exploration in our area, we are basically saying "it's ok to contaminate as long as you do it by our rules and regs". - Playing within the regulatory framework, willing to regulate a bad idea does not improve the idea, it simply turns a bad idea into a more regulated bad idea....

True, true, true. But water is not BECOMING our most valuable resource. It has been that since the first time we had to ration water consumption. That was close to 60 years ago in my memory, and probably long before that. The last real progress on the water issue was the drilling of the Taylor wells. Who remembers when that took place? Water became our number-one issue in city government some five years or more ago. Where is the progress? It seems outside experts have finally caught the attention of the powers that be. Let's hope we see major results this time around, no matter how much it hurts!

The previous time the city was in an water emergency, the daily water use dropped from greater than 2 million gallons per day to about 1.8 million gallon per day.

Data from 4 13 thru 5-9 2011 shows that the average water use is more than 2.1 million gallons per day. This is not good. We can not survive using water at this rate. Remember that the census in 2010, showed a loss of more than 1,000 residents.

All city water customers must take this water emergency seriously,this is not a trivial matter.

I visited with an individual that has lived here many years and they related to me, that at one time in the past, that water was brought to Las Vegas in tanker cars by the railroad.

Las Vegas citizens are smart, we must work together to find better ways to implement water conservation. Talking on the radio and making speeches has not reduced our use of water. We must make conservation happen NOW, for our children and for our City.

Visit with your neighbors, attend City Council meetings, make your ideas known. Let's get this done!

We are still going to need more of it. Our main industry is tourism. Tourists use water, and A LOT of it. Imagine how hard of a hit our main industry is taking right now while our historic properties sit behind dry, dead, and dusty yards; while our restruants serve our "valued" tourists out of styrafoam cups and paper plates. While I'm at it, I'll go ahead and say that alot of Newbies here need to get real and realize that wind energy isn't going to destroy our natural resources. Please. Really? Wasn't it the greenies who wanted wind energy in the first place? Now you want it gone? This useless, narrow-minded BICKERING is what has kept Las Vegas in the rears for decades. We need water. We need industry. So, instead of holding useless meetings and forming abnoxious alliances about how to "care" for our water, how about we get together and figure out how to get MORE OF IT. Our water usage isn't the problem... look around town. It's dying without water. The lack of DOWN-TO-EARTH citizens getting together and hashing out a way to get more of it is the REAL problem. The solution starts with our ideas... PERIOD.